View this email in your browser

Hi Sifted Reader,

Here at Sifted, we're always trying to uncover the things that — for some reason — remain a mystery in the startup world. Chief among them is the dreaded VC term sheet. You've just bagged a brilliant, experienced investor — and the promise of their cash. But how do you know if they're giving you a fair deal? Founders, scroll down, because we found some answers for you.

Plus:

• Why startups are creating ethical advisory boards
• 14 UK startups to watch that aren't in London
• The government algorithms messing with people's lives

— Amy, fintech reporter & Amy, editor

The premise of Stockholm-based audio app Anyone is that people can pick up the phone to get five minutes of advice from anyone in the world for as little as $2. 

For all its good intentions, it's a concept that opens up the possibility of abuse — namely, the hate speech, extremism and disinformation that have been rife on the Facebooks, Clubhouses and Twitters of the world. 

So, despite its early stage and headcount of just 12, its founders created an external ethics board to solve just these issues. And it's not the only startup doing so.

Does your startup need an "ethics taskforce" too? Miriam Partington finds out.

Join Twilio’s free superclass on March 16 to see how you fare against other developers — and to learn how to use new communications tools to better solve customer experience challenges.

Sign up for the superclass here. 

How can you tell a good term sheet from a bad one? What is an average investor fee for a startup like yours? What kind of vesting schedule is reasonable? How much of an exclusivity period should you agree to? 

Well, Mountside Ventures analysed 203 VC term sheets to get some answers. 

Here's how not to get screwed by your investors.

2021 was a mammoth year of funding for UK startups — and not only those based in London. Startups from everywhere else in the UK snapped up $14.7bn in funding — double that of the year before and more than all the startups in France...

Impressed? Us too.

These are the non-London startups to keep tabs on. 

Roll up for the first of our new Dear Sifted series, where we ask you, our readers, to send us your startup problems, before rounding up some top-notch advice from industry experts. 

This one is a founder's worst nightmare. Well, at least one of them. A founder wrote to us to ask what on earth they should do, having been abandoned by their cofounder just ahead of a big fundraise. Worse still, the estranged founder owns a quarter of the company. 

Kai Nicol-Schwarz spoke to a founder, a VC and a lawyer to offer some much-needed advice.

How generous should founders be when it comes to equity schemes? Does a big share result in increased employee loyalty? It’s time you let your team know their worth with a successful stock scheme.

Join us online today at 12.30pm GMT.

💵  Vira Health raises $12m from Octopus to take its personalised menopause support to the US. The company behind menopause app Stella will use its latest cash injection to launch the app stateside, as well as investing in clinical trials and the addition of medication and telemedicine. 

💸 Bootstrap Europe closes its third fund on $127m in commitments. The London-based private lender founded by two women of colour now has $225m of investment firepower — which goes into providing European companies with growth debt. 

 ❌  The government algorithms making life and death decisions — and getting them wrong. From benefits payments to immigration rulings, European governmenta are using AI to process a swathe of documents that have a huge impact on people's lives. Tim Smith looks into what happens when they make mistakes. 

🤑  Europe's largest crypto miner. Northern Data is Europe's biggest bitcoin miner. The German company can mine more than €20m worth of cryptocurrency per month at its sites in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany — and it’s almost entirely run on renewable energy. Michael Stothard found out more. 

Copyright © 2022 SIFTED (EU) LTD, All rights reserved.

Want to tailor what you receive from us?
You can update your preferences to manage your newsletter subscriptions,
or you can unsubscribe from Sifted if you never want to hear from us again.